The Improvised Wedding

HOUSTON, TX – The Krasinski-Duncan nuptials are not the stuff of fairy tale romance or television wedding reality show extravaganza. But they are a viable option for the pragmatic couple in a hurry, on a tight budget and willing to work without a script. Here’s their wedding story.

Nancy Krasinski is a New Yorker (born and raised in Narrowsburg, NY) transplanted to Houston in the ‘70s, where she holds a management position with a well-known Japanese oil company. John Duncan was, at the time of this story, a wholesale coffee salesman and lifelong resident of the Deep South. They met through a mutual friend and, for the better part of a decade, shared a home in Houston’s famous Heights district, a picturesque neighborhood of Los Angeles-style bungalows and 1920s craftsman homes replete with white picket fences. Aging baby boomers, each had been married before, and neither was particularly interested in marrying again. Their decision to marry came in response to crisis and with the blessing of their accountant.

Seemingly out of the blue, Duncan suffered a massive heart attack. Medical tests indicated the need for an immediate quadruple coronary bypass. Although both Duncan and Krasinki had health insurance plans courtesy of their corporate employers, Kransinki’s plan offered more comprehensive coverage for major medical expenses. The cost of surgery would be exorbitant, and the lengthy subsequent convalescence could mean the loss of Duncan’s job and health insurance. The couple’s accountant urged a quick wedding, with Duncan added to Kransinki’s health insurance plan immediately thereafter.

Krasinski recalls, “The doctors wanted to operate yesterday. We needed to hold the wedding as soon as possible.” Because Texas has a mandatory three-day waiting period for completion of the marriage license process, the decision was made to hold the wedding on the bride’s upcoming birthday, one week to the day later.

After seeing the anticipated wedding date on the marriage license application, the city hall clerk informed the couple that their date of choice coincided with a conference for judges and justices. The chance of their finding a justice on that date was, at best, remote. Skeptical at first, a dozen calls to justices within a 100-mile radius confirmed the clerk’s prediction. Plan B was hatched.

Longtime friend and neighbor Simone knew of a progressive, nondenominational organization willing to marry almost anyone on short notice, no questions asked. While thumbing wildly through a phone book, Simone became the de facto wedding planner.